Origin of the Contagian of the Plague That this disease is of Egyptian origin, seems univer sally admitted, though we may not be able to define exact ly the circumstances by which it is generated. From the nature of the Egyptian territory, the low and maritime parts of that country have been a perpetual source of pes tilential miasmata, even in the best times of that extraor dinary nation. In more recent ones, the disturbed state of things, bad government, perpetual wars, and all their ruinous consequences, have led to the neglect of those canals, embankments, and other works, which confined and regulated the course of the Nile, and which also as sisted in regulating the contests of the sea and land at the mouth of that river, not less injurious in their ultimate effects. Hence have originated marshes, stagnant wa ters, and wet lands, that were formerly unknown. But, even in far distant times, Herodotus speaks of the dis eases consequent on these and similar causes; accusing the priests of neglecting the state of their lands between the plain and the sea, while they were employed in stu dying the heavens. He then also tells us, that at the time of his visit, Egypt had just terminated 'a ruinous war, in consequence of which the country was infested by robbers and ravaged by diseases. That the sacred writers, who so often denounced threatenings to Egypt, alluded to this disease, is more than probable. It would seem as if Isaiah had even known the country from per sonal experience.
There are authors, nevertheless, and among others Monsieur Olivier not long ago, who have asserted that the plague does not originate in this country, but that it is annually imported from Constantinople through Alex andria. That such an event as this may have actually happened, is not improbable; but Olivier's opinion is little worthy of attention; from his incapacity of judging on this subject, as well as from our knowledge, that it was part of his business, employed as he was by the French government, to do away all the fears likely to in terfere with the expedition to that country. It is not only on this occasion that even the name of the disease has been suppressed, from interested views of a similar na ture, and that its contagious property has been denied. It is not longer ago than 1818, that a physician was bastina doed at Tunis, for having declared a disease to be the plague ; and with such ruinous consequences as may easi ly be apprehended.
If the French had thus made up their minds to be a+. ease on this head, they were not long in being compelled to form a different opinion. When their army disembark ed at Alexandria, in 1796, the first symptoms broke out in the naval hospital there, from which it was communi cated to two others in the same city, and at length to Da mietta, Rosetta, and the surrounding country. At that time it is very certain that no vessel had arrived at Alex andria. But it is indeed the universal belief of the inha bitants of this city, whether Copts or Mussulmen, that the plague originates in Alexandria every year, and that it lasts from autumn till the next summer heats, extend ing its ravages along the whole of the sea coast.
But in fact the same opinion is universal, not only throughout Lower but in Upper Egypt ; and in the latter division it is believed, uniformly, to spread from the low country. It has been particularly remarked, that the dis ease had not appeared at Gaza for forty years; and that, when it did appear, about the period above mentioned, it was brought by some Mamelukes who had fled from the French armies. Desgenettes, whose personal experience renders him a good authority in this case, is decidedly of opinion that the plague is endemic in Lower Egypt, and along the coasts of Syria, and that for these two centu ries past it has been observed to spring up in many places in this tract, where there was no external communication of any kind.
According to Mr. Larrey, chief surgeon to the French army in Egypt, that part of the year which lies between the vernal equinox and the beginning of June. is extreme ly pernicious to the inhabitants, and still move so to stran gers. At this period, for about two months, the south winds are very violent and hot, blowing for three or four hours at a time from the immense sandy deserts. These winds are also charged with miasmata from the pools and marshes of the Nile. In June, the north winds com mence, and produce that state of the air in which Egypt is entirely free from diseases. Not to dwell longer on this, the conclusion is, that the plague is both endemic and contagious in Lower Egypt, but that it is merely con tagious in Upper Egypt, as well as in Syria, and all the more distant countries, to which it is carried by personal communication or inanimate substances. That it should not always be easy to trace its immediate origin to the dis trict in question, is no cause for surprise, when we recol lect that for so many ages it has continued to prevail, and that its contagion is probably permanent, however tempo rarily inactive in countries deriding all precautions, and impressed with the fatal doctrines of fatality.
It has been asked, and naturally, why the same disor der does not originate in other countries, in the same or similar regions that appear to be in the same circum stances. It was not found any where else endemic, by Bruce, Lord Valentia, or Salt, where it might have been expected, nor by any other oriental traveller. It is equal ly unknown in southern and middle Africa, where the situation appears favourable to it ; although these regions are subject to the most destructive of the fevers produced by marsh miasmata, and arising from lands of the same character. Thus also India produces its jungle fevers, and the West India islands their yellow fever ; while the same classes of disease, but no plague, are equally abun dant in all the hot marshy districts of the American con tinent.